Steal the enemy's base at the start and build a technological empire.

Chapter 394 The Aliens Return

February 10, 2001, 10:00 AM.

The sky in Silicon Valley was an almost unrealistically blue, cloudless, and the air was dry. When Ling Yun got out of the car, a breeze blew from the east, carrying the scent of grass. He was wearing a light gray jacket, unbuttoned, over which he wore a white T-shirt. Zhao Hu got out of the passenger seat, carrying a briefcase, and stood beside him.

Ling Yun looked up at the three-story gray building in front of him. An American flag was hanging on the flagpole at the entrance, and a wooden sign on the wall above the entrance read: "Alienware, Inc."

This is the aliens' office building; Lingyun hasn't been here in a long time.

Ling Yun pushed open the door and went in. The receptionist stood up; she was a young white girl with blonde hair tied in a ponytail.

"Mr. Ling, are you looking for Nelson? He's in his office on the second floor."

Ling Yun nodded and walked towards the stairs, with Zhao Hu following behind.

The second floor was quiet, with a gray carpet in the hallway that made no sound when you stepped on it. Several whiteboards hung on the walls, covered with code and flowcharts, the handwriting messy, some written in black pen and some corrected in red pen.

Ling Yun glanced around, didn't stop, and continued walking forward. At the end of the corridor was an office with the door open. Nelson was standing behind his desk, on the phone. Seeing Ling Yun, he raised his hand to greet him. Ling Yun went inside and sat down on the sofa. Zhao Hu stood in the doorway.

Nelson spoke a few words into the phone, his voice low and inaudible. He hung up and walked over, sitting down opposite Ling Yun. He was wearing a dark blue polo shirt and khaki pants; his hair was noticeably whiter than last year, his temples completely white. He had deep bags under his eyes, as if he hadn't slept well in a long time. He rubbed his face and looked at Ling Yun.

"Ling, you've lost weight."

Lingyun said, "You've lost weight too."

Nelson chuckled. "The Shanghai Research Institute needs people, and Alex applied to go himself. He said he'd been in China for six months, gotten used to it, and didn't want to come back. His wife and kids went too; the kids are studying in Shanghai and speak Chinese better than English."

Ling Yun nodded. "Alex is a tech fanatic. The Chinese factory has many engineers, so we can quickly verify whether his design is reasonable."

Nelson continued, "It's not just Alex; since last year, more than thirty people have been transferred back to China from Silicon Valley. They include engineers, project managers, and testers. They mostly applied on their own. Development is fast in China, and they need people. People from here can lead teams, teach technology, and bring their experience with them. This is a good thing."

Ling Yun asked him, "How many people are left here?"

Nelson said, "Forty-seven. That's enough to maintain basic R&D. The core R&D is all there; the design, architecture, and underlying optimization are all veterans. Production and testing have already been taken over in China. Here, we can focus on high-end, forward-looking, and next-generation products. We don't have to worry about mass production, which makes things much easier."

Ling Yun nodded, looking at Nelson, "Keep recruiting. As long as the technical skills are high, we'll offer double, triple, quadruple the salary. We can provide cars, houses, stock options, anything. As long as your skills are high enough, there's nothing we can't offer. There aren't many companies in Silicon Valley with a lot of cash like us right now. While they're laying off employees, we can take the opportunity to recruit more talent."

Ling Yun took a document out of his bag and spread it on the coffee table. "I've made a plan regarding the future development of the aliens; let's discuss it."

Nelson nodded. "We really should have a proper discussion about the future development direction of the aliens."

Ling Yun continued, "First, we need to expand our product line. We should cover high, medium, and low-end markets. High-end gaming laptops should be branded with Alienware so the market recognizes Alienware as a high-end brand. Mid-range office laptops and low-end student laptops should be branded with Alienware. Three tiers, three prices, three markets. No overlap, no competition. Users who want performance can buy high-end. Users who want long battery life and good value can buy mid-range. Users who want affordability and practicality can buy low-end."

Nelson walked over, sat down on the sofa, and looked at the document.

"Secondly, the architecture needs to be comprehensive. We need to develop both x86 and ARM architectures. x86 is for gaming laptops, offering strong performance and good compatibility. ARM is for office and student laptops, providing low power consumption and long battery life. We need to adopt a two-pronged approach, without neglecting either. For x86, we need to use chips from both Intel and AMD. We won't be tied to one company. We have good relationships with AMD, and their prices are lower, so we'll prioritize them. We also need to maintain relationships with Intel; we can't let them fall behind. For ARM, we'll use our own designed chips. Although the performance is slightly lower, it's still sufficient when using the new version of the Spark system. Users don't care about the performance difference; they care about the price. If the price is low enough, users won't have high expectations. Once they buy, as long as we have enough sales, we can iterate and continuously improve. Through collaborative optimization across the entire industry chain, our products will be the best."

Nelson jotted down a few notes in his notebook. He looked up and asked, "Is the 'Starlight' brand part of Spark?"

Ling Yun said, "Yes. It's Xinghuo's. Xinghuo laptops use ARM chips and the Xingchen operating system, mainly targeting the education market. They're inexpensive, have long battery life, and are sufficient for basic study and office work. Alienware, on the other hand, targets the high-end overseas market. They use x86 chips, Windows and the Xingchen operating system, offering high performance at a high price. The two don't compete with each other; they each do their own thing. But the supply chain, production lines, and technology must be shared. Without sharing, it's like having two separate teams, which increases costs and prices, wasting our excellent resources."

Nelson nodded and made another note. He asked, "What about R&D? We're working on both x86 and ARM; do we have enough manpower?"

Lingyun said, "That's enough. The core team is here, the architecture is here, and the code is here. The domestic team is working on the ARM architecture products. You guys are working on the x86 side. We'll synchronize regularly, share technology and experience, and avoid reinventing the wheel."

Nelson closed his laptop and placed it on the coffee table. He leaned back on the sofa, staring at the ceiling. After about ten seconds, he sat up straight and looked at Ling Yun.

"Ling, there's one more thing. The latest laptops use touchscreens, and although they're small, it's a very practical innovation. Could we also release a laptop with a touchscreen that can completely replace a mouse in some situations?"

"Of course, it's possible, but the technology isn't mature yet, the size is too small, and it's too expensive. This product will only be well-received but not commercially successful," Ling Yun explained patiently.

"Ling, you've misunderstood. Here's the thing: a friend of mine, Wayne, whose company is developing a technology called capacitive multi-touch, has made some progress, but lacks funding, which is slowing down the development process. He came to me asking if our company was interested in investing. I saw that you're very interested in touch technology and have requested that a touchpad be added to our new laptop model, so I was asking if you were interested in investing," Nelson explained.

Ling Yun was taken aback. Could this be Fingerworks, which was acquired by Apple? "What's your friend's company called?"

"FingerWorks!"

"Okay, then you can arrange it. I'll be in the US recently, so we can meet and chat." Ling Yun suppressed his excitement and asked Nelson to arrange the meeting.

After saying that, Ling Yun stood up and said, "Keep recruiting. Get everyone in place first. Don't be afraid of having too many people, and don't be afraid of people asking for high salaries. Don't forget to schedule an appointment with Wayne."

Nelson nodded.